Bugger... home again

Smashed

The DOMS have set in early.. I sit here in significant pain.. Karen thinks I'm a sook.. The kids just reckon I'm getting old - I know it's all just coz I got smashed this morning - and maybe the 3 k kayak.

But I had excuses, I fell over at the beach on the rocks yesterday.. I sprained by wrist.. I've had a big week.. I still weigh 102+ kilos.. I'm a bit tired.. Will got a flat.. two flats!

Totally smashed. That's all that hapenned. The Sunrise Loop is not my kind of ride and I knew I'd be in for it from the start. As I said to AJ at the end, "I started in a negative place and I pretty much remained there."

AJ said Andy Fellows started it. Andy reckons AJ started it. In any case, when you have a 2nd in the 24hr solo World Champs and a professional full-time triathlete fighting it out on front, it doesn't give a 102 kilo 43 year old much chance of staying with them in the hills.

So I did an extra 70k after coffee just to teach myself a lesson.

Far out. I need to go to bed.

120k road - pretty hard!

More than just a bike ride

• A flat for Brad less than three ks out of town
  
• Nice tempo up The Range
• Stu (the Grafton-Inverell gun) and I stretched the bunch out up the Cooroy Road for the next six k - Stu got the blame and a rocket from the P of the P - cool!
• Pomona, close to Kin Kin, Black Mtn (more of that relentless undulating Sunshine Hinterland road), Sunrise loop
• I nearly caused a crash going uphill due to my cleats completely wearing and pulling out of the pedal - poor maintenance... not normal and not so good
• Brad gets another blow-out whilst descending at 60kph back down to the coast - very lucky to keep it upright - later discovered to be the tube protruding from the first slash
• Coffee, coffee, coffee at Costa Noosa and a visit to Tim's toy-shop to collect some second-hand cleats to get me through

A little soft in effort and distance today (only considering my Warny needs). 120 all up with a few extras on my own after the coffee shop.

Best thing about today?...


Prior to this, I was a bit of a scrooge about spending the money on a jet-ski and my kids thought I was a bit of a grump.

At the end it was me saying to Karen, "Got another 150 bucks?!?"



We had an absolute ball and I couldn't believe the jet-skiing skills and guts of my 10 year old boy!

Unreal.

Saturday Fire Station Ride

Saturday Noosa Fire Station ride. Down the coast to Maroochydore and back with another loop out to some lake thrown in. A few coffees back at Costa Noosa. Paradise!

Had to say goodbye to Dave Foster today who will be heading home to Melbourne early tomorrow morning. Another year at Noosa already nearing the end. Very sad.

110k road - 50 of it hard.

Long Hinterland ride tomorrow morn.

Rest day

A bit of make-up time -


A bit of pool time -


A bit of Sunshine Beach Surf Club time -


A lot of rest time -



Hence, a bit of this -


But well and truly ready for this -

BRING ON THE WEEKEND
120k Saturday smashing up and down David Lowe Way (Coast Road)
150k Sunday through the Hinterland
Magnificant!

In the blender

Take this big fat back-side....















And this big fat back-side...




















Put them together with a week of hard Noosa riding. Ad a Thursday smashfest out to Booran Point and then a couple of 4k climbing strengthies and this is what you end up with...

I AM KNACKERED

I knew it would be hard to back it up this morning but I managed it... just. Brad and I are now set for an easy day tomorrow to get ready for a big weekend. Saturday and Sunday are both big rides and the competition is heated with so many visiting interstaters. It always makes for fierce competition.

And for some rest... Karen and I treated ourselves to a magnificant lunch out today. The Spirithouse came highly recommended and we had a wonderful time.


The food, wine and atmosphere made for a great experience. If you ever get the chance, get out there.

As for Brad and I tonight? We finished the ride looking like this -


But tonight, we look a bit like this -

BRING ON THE WEEKEND

Family reunions

Fossy and some other Melbourners got out a bit later this morning after the rain stopped. I couldn't join them due to visitors coming later in the morning.

It was fantastic to catch up with Deb and Donna, two cousins on my real dad's side. I see them far less than I should! Phil (their mum), Pete (Phil's partner) and Makenna (Donna's daughter) also joined us and we had a great chat and lunch.


Jack and I went for a quick run soon after lunch. About 1.5k killed me!... then later in the arvo I got out for a quick spin on the bike. I managed about 60ks of hard undulating country with some climbing repeats up The Range at the end.

I did it pretty hard and have a funny feeling I know what will now happen to me in the morning. Thursday morning Noosa bunch is fast and furious and without being here last week, I know it was hard coz Fossy and Foggy both found it hard to hang on. Will give it my best shot!

At the very least I'll look like this at the end...

Wish me luck!

Queensland...

Beautiful one day, perfect the next.

Right? No...

Raining one day, bucketing the next.

Another sleep-in this morning due to pouring rain. At least I'm relaxed and well rested.

Rain but fun

What better thing to do on a rainy day than go to the movies along with everyone else in Noosa.

Despicable Me in 3D (hence Jack's glasses). Yes, their faces are squashed against the glass. They don't normally look like this.

Despite the rain of the last couple of days we're still having a fantastic time. The kids have been spending most of their time in the pool and have had many others to play with. Four other families we know with 11 other children. Three different pools. Movies. What more could you ask for as a kid?

It was raining again this morning so the Tuesday morning smashfest was off the cards. I had been looking forward to that one as it's a ripper but there's still next week.

Fossy, Foggy and I headed out about 2pm today once it had dried up and the sun was kinda shining. We managed to get 90 ks in finishing with a couple of good solid strengthies up the nearby Range.

The undulating hills of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland are relentless. Fair dinkum, if you ride them hard they are bloody great training. We had a couple of longer climbs today (3km or so, one with a section of 12%) and the remaining was all hard undulating dead road. Really good stuff.

So Julie's birthday yesterday with a day of solid rain was perfect timing for a rest day from the bike!

Finished off the ride today with a double licorice ice-cream with no guilt.

Road - 90ks hard.

Noosa Sunday

The Noosa bunch Sunday ride is the bigger one for the week (as far as distance goes). We all felt we were luck to get one in at all as the forecast was for wide-spread rain to start Saturday night. Out of the 4 hours we were out Sunday morning, it rained for 15 minutes - and that 15 minutes was when we were in the coffee shop! Nice when it works out like that.

It was a fantastic ride taking in all Noosa has to offer. The Range, some good climbs, fierce undulating country roads followed by a high speed race up the coast to Costa Noosa. We were all pretty smashed by the time we got to coffee. Brad the bro-in-law and I finished it off with a couple of strengthy repeats up The Range, a four kilometre climb closed to traffic which is just out of Tawantin. That all put us in good stead for a rest day today. Lucky for a couple of reasons. One, it's Brad's wifes birthday so duty calls, and two, the radar looks like this.

Here's all of Australia...


Here's our little bit of it...

Noosa is in the bottome right corner. Fantastic.

We're still having a ball though. We managed to get to the beach yesterday arvo and had a nice lunch at Sunshine Beach SLSC.

Today has been spent celebrating Julie's birthday with Breakfast at Maddison's down the road, a movie for a rainy day at Noosa Junction, then tonight we go to a pub down the road for Jule's birthday tea.

Loving Noosa rain hail or shine.






125k road ride yesterday. Good solid ride with specific strengthy training at the end.

Rest today.

Noosa - Maroochy - Noosa smashfest

Joined the Saturday ride from the fire station today. A roll down the coast to Maroochydore then a hammer-fest back. Finished with a smaller loop out to some lake (???) then back to Costa Noosa for the best coffee in the world again.

110k road - 40 of it if that, hard.

Costa Noosa

I've been looking forward to this for months! I've often said Costa Noosa coffee is the best tasting coffee in the world. Yes, it's good coffee but the thing about that best coffee is that it's usually influence very much by the surrounding atmosphere and environment.

• great coffee
  
• after a smashing 100k
• riding the Noosa Hinterland
• great company with Fossy (haven't seen him for 5 months) and the Noosa boys
• Sunshine Beach location
• sunshine
• warmth
• = best tasting coffee in the world!

Two more weeks of this. I love it -

Love Tiger

Remember I said this in my last post...

.....yes - Tiger. We hope to be taking of at a scheduled time of 1045hrs tomorrow morning (wish us luck).

Well we've had two delays so far and I'm wiating for the next one. We're sitting in the boarding lounge trying to control the kids over-excitement - and mine!

Love Tiger...

Sunny Queensland here we come!

Last day of work today for 18 days. That makes me very happy. So glad I can leave it all with such a gun crew!

So here we go...


.....yes - Tiger. We hope to be taking of at a scheduled time of 1045hrs tomorrow morning (wish us luck). Landing in nice warm Maroochydore airport we'll be met by a driver to take us to our accomodation in Noosaville. Fantastic!

On Friday morning I'll be set up and ready to smash out a nice long Sunshine Coast Hinterland tour with the Noosa bunch. Brother-in-law Foggy will be there along with my long lost friend Fossy (Dave Foster). He's been travelling Oz with his family for the last four months and I'm really looking forward to seeing him and getting out on the bike together.

On Tuesday's ride up there Foggy got dropped and Fossy just managed to hang on. Tuesday is the Sunrise Loop which is an hour and a half of high intensity Hinterland undulations. It's definitely a smashfest and Foggy found out about it. I'll give him a push next week!

For me today was a ride home from work on the single speed road bike. Only 45k but included 5 repeats of a good hill close to home. 1k runs of about a 1:30 gradient... hurts a lot.

Rest day tomorrow then whatever the Noosa bunch has in store for me on Friday.

Can't wait. I'm hoping to do the Cycleworks brand proud up there Vlad! See you in a couple of weeks.

Tuesday 6am-er Hurt Box

Ouch!

70k road bike SS - mostly hard.

Hoot of a Commute (extended version)

Got away from work a bit earlier than normal and took an extended Hoot of a Commute home. I threw in a couple of extra loops and rode a few trails I don't normally put into my Yarra Trails commute. Had a ball and the MTB Single Speed performed like a dream.

This will be my last MTB ride before Noosa so I was keen to get a good one in.

Tweeked a few things on Bruce's MTB tonight for delivery tomorrow night. Really nice bike. Looking forward to hitting the trails with him.

Hurt Box in the morning with the 6am-ers.

3 hours Yarra Trails on the MTB SS.
101.5kg - not quite low enough!

A ripper out to Panton Gap and another great 6am-er Sunday Ride

This is today's group of 6am-ers gathered at the top of Panton Gap. 11 ks from Healesville and 11 ks from Launching Place. We came up the dirt road between those two towns - from Don Valley.

Twelve of us headed out this morning on a day which gave us many signs of some nicer spring weather to come. Mild temperatures, dry roads and early light. We're all so very desperate for those more pleasant conditions. It's been a long winter.

But today was a pearler and it made for a very jocular atmosphere as we headed out the Warby. For example, there was significant discussion as to how and who would give Horny a smashing in a sprint on his return to Oz. And of course a week never goes by without mention of Mick Villani and his hedge-hog (aka HJ) orders at our coffee stops. The Duke kept talking about turning around but never disappeared and was still there for coffee at the end. Short-cut my arse! If we'd added another 50k he would have been there.

It was during racing on these roads years ago that I first met Bruce (The Claw). In those days he used to wonder who the big idiot was (me) that smashed down all of the hills and had the reversing beepers on going up them. Today was much the same. The undulations of the Warby Highway had me going backwards and forwards through the group like a horizontal yo-yo.

Dairy and Don Roads were absolutely beautiful. The new bridge (with no gaps!) and the few ks of smooth dirt road finished off a fantastic climb (photo up top). As usual, Mad Mike and Foggy went a bit crazy down the drop and our cruise back along Maroondah Highway was mostly free of too much traffic. The Station House coffee shop in Ringwood provided us with a new version of The Pearl (ref: Ripe coffee shop in Sassafrass a couple of years ago... just ask Crash Test) and the very good coffee finished of a fantastic Sunday ride with my mates.

The route looked something similar to this although we straightened it out a bit on the way out and back. Go here if you want a more detailed look thanks to Steve Martin's Garmin file.


About 130k with 1700m of climbing - pretty standard 6am-er.

Rest Day

Had a nice day of rest today but managed to finish The Claw's bike off. Looks good...

One way commute

Started a bit later today. Three hour MTB SS to work. Did a lot of the trails on the north side of the river for a bit of a change. The flood's now coming to Melbourne... river is way up. At one stage I ended up knee deep in mud and there are some sections of the banks that are being washed away due to river level. Hope it doesn't destroy things to much.

I met my Rotary Mentor Mike on the way in. We had a coffee in Camberwell and I think he was a bit shocked when he saw me...


Got to work very muddy - love it!

One way commute

One way commute to home tonight, via the Bouley and the Eastern Freeway track. I planned to do five hill repeats on a favourite hill coming home. On the third, I broke a spoke and couldn't keep going. Second spoke in as many days so it appears I need to rebuild the wheel... bugger. Maybe I should just replace it with one of these...


40k pretty easy riding but in the 53/16 on the SS road bike.

Down to about 101.5kg and heading in the right direction.

Hurt Box - North Road - Fatties

The 6am-er Hurt Box was a good hit-out yesterday morning. Only four of us to roll the turns most of the way around although The Claw joined us on the return leg after missing the bunch due to a flat. Later that night when he went to properly inflate his tyre, he blew the rubber through the rim having let the it wear nearly all the way through! A good lesson for those pushing these limits. Better that it happened in the house than in the middle of a hard turn on Beach Road (or descending the 1:20 for example).



Check those rims guys - it's not worth it. And wemember I'm a weally good wheel builder. Here's an example of a rim similar to what Bruce's would have looked like prior to explosion. You can see why they eventually fold under 100+ pounds of pressure.



So yesterday... 70k of mostly good solid turns with 5x6am-ers.

Today I headed down to the North Road bunch to test my intensity levels (and ability). I was pretty happy to feel strong throughout the ride and was a driver of the bunch all the way back along the fast leg... which surprised me a bit. I'm intending to do the same thing tomorrow morning for the Thursday bunch so I guess I'll find out if I was stong this morning or the bunch was slow!


Finished off today with a visit back to the Fatties MTB bunch finally. I've missed it tremendously. As expected I had an absolute ball and was well and truly wearing my happy MTB face again. There was a good bunch of seven to start and it was great to be winding through the single track with a snake of so meany high powered lights. What a hoot.

Today... 70k road (30 hard), 2 hours MTB mostly hard.

Tired - But happy!

Best Father's Day ever!.. & King Lake alone.

Despite this...

...I kept going.

Then despite this...


...I still made it to the top!

As much as I've climbed King Lake a gazillion times I'm getting sick of doing it as a large vehicle. I've decided on some very measurable objectives today.

I had a nice sleep-in this morning (to 0715... woo hoo!) until I was woken by my three excited children bestowing me with presents and cuddles. Homemade cards with loving messages (i.e. "You're the best dad ever!") and smelly products purchased from the primary school stall were piled on top of me. Grouse. I was handed the paper in bed and lay for half hour looking at the pictures wishing I had a decent publication. Once I got to page 26 (a good fictional read) I gave up and threw it out the window then went downstairs for this...


Karen did most of it no doubt but Lucy definitely told her when to take the eggs off and Kate ensured the bacon didn't burn. According to them they cooked it all and Jack poured the orange juice. I'm very lucky.

My frequent quip when asked if I accompany my wife and kids to church on Sundays is, "I like to worship on my bike!" This morning I ate my words as I'd promised my girls I'd go to kids' church with them for footy day.

Later, Jack had a bowling party to attend so there was my chance! I hit the road for a quick lap of the King Lake round-a-bout on my own. I relish that time to think. Black Saturday and the subsequent months are the things which generally dominate. I spend a lot of time gazing at that Bald Spur ridge where so many lives were lost. I still remember many of the names and faces of those who died.



It's not often that I spin on past Smith's Gully. But today I did in order to get home in time to be swept away to my surprise afternoon tea location. I was asked "Can you guess where we're going daddy?" about 100 time en route. It was clear we were heading for the 'nongs and I know them pretty well but I couldn't guess for the life of me where our arvo tea would be.



Then we were here...

Fantastic! The corniness of the Cuckoo is part of it's attraction to me. That and the fact that it reminds me so much of my grandparents. Bavarian beer, Bavarian costumes and Kate playing the cow-bells with the house yodeller all contributed to a fantastic Father's Day arvo tea. Oh... and the food - boy did we eat!

Lucky I did 100+ ks earlier in the day.

And the objectives? 102.5kg now... 100kg by Noosa (2 weeks)... 98kg on return (4 weeks). I'm sick of this large vehicle bullshit and sick of just talking about it. As if 98kg isn't large?!?... but at least it's better.

Sleeping, presents, cuddles, riding, food, beer and Cuckoo cookiness.

I've had the best Father's Day ever!

PJs for me

Time to break out the jarmies again!

Who on earth would want to go out on a day like today? I went out in sympathy to all my mates in Bright (Alpine Cycling Club) who had planned a massive mountain bike epic today. Baz and Kim were intending to lead a group up Snowy Creek and across Simmons Gap to Tawonga. Not today for me!

I know a number of 6am-ers braved the conditions and raced the club championships at Modella. I'm not sure of all the results but I know The Duke managed a podium in the Masters 1-3. Well done mate in this atrocious weather.

I'm looking forward to a Fathers' Day breakfast in bed tomorrow morning. I'm on a promise to go to kids' church for the footy morning but from 11 I'm off to King Lake in a hurry. Must be back by 1430 for Fathers' Day afternoon tea at a surprise location! Should be a nice day with my gorgeous children.

More rest - More gear

More rest today and needing it. Managed to pick up the 6am-er stuff from El Mantes though. Looks good.


Jack thought it was okay too -


Thanks for organising it Brad. Makes us look like a pretty professional outfit.

Perfect day for a mid-week Pav

I felt like I was riding on auto-pilot as I headed out on the road-bike to our famous training institution this morning. This was for my second day of compulsory training and it seemed to take me forever to wake up. Maybe it was because the change in routine had resulted in a much lower caffeine intake the day before... something I neither enjoy nor cope with.

I think our instructor caught me out a couple of times dosing off in the back seat of the class-room today. I'm not sure if it was because of my caffeine level or his lack of ability to engage. Luckily we were required to put ourselves through the beep-test a bit later on so that got my mind working. 6.10 was the level we had to achieve. Pretty soft I thought. It was a bit like soft turns on a Tuesday morning! (sorry guys, my arrogance gets the better of me sometimes).

In any case, as I had predicted we were dismissed early enough for me to squeeze in a mid-week arvo Paynter's Pav. As the picture depicts, Jule's naming of this ride comes from the profile of the top of a well-made pavlova. A bit like this only you'd have to go easy on the cream in the middle...

I was going to insert a link to the 6am-ers Pav page here but discovered we don't actually have one. Gotta do something about that since it's one of our most popular rides (Duke?.. or someone else with a Garmin... since I don't have one anymore... woops!).

This is the general route although I went up the wall and down to Montrose today. The route in this map takes in Silvan....


Every six months I have to do this training. The two days of my life each time which I know I will never get back are usually somewhat compensated by a solid ride out to the hills after an early finish.

Luckily today was a perfect day for a pav.

I dropped in to Cycleworks on my way home. Vlad has worked his magic for me again and ensured replacement of my 3rd broken MTB frame. I should have it back soon with a brand-new SRAM group and brakes thanks to SRAM, Vlad and Cycleworks . Can't wait! Bring on the next Chase the Sun race (4th race postponed now to a date to be fixed). Kinda good considering the weather.

Road ride - 120 or so k of undulating pavlova.
102.5kg until I got home tonight and threw down a kit-kat and a whole packet of lollies!

No really... This wasn't me today.

Oh dear - I'm feeling a little bit tired

It's been a big week and the last two days have pretty much finished me off.

Yesterday I headed out the Yarra Trails with Mick. Some fast single track along the river and three laps of Hans's pretty much had me in the blender.... Brad (El Mantes). I finished 2.75 hours on the SS last night and just about fell into the car.

Today saw me start with The Hurt Box and finish with my massive geared SS road bike searching for the flattest possible roads home. I was that knackered that I actually did quite a few more ks trying to find flat routes home rather than have to ride the 53/16 up any hills whatsoever!

It was nice to ride down from the city this morning with The Claw, Fabio and Mr. C. We joined the North Road bunch and I immediately got smashed with a cadence of 130+ heading down Nepean with a tail wind before meeting the 6am-ers for The Hurt Box. It was a solid effort this morning down to Mordy and back to the city although I feel we should be working just a little bit harder. There's always plenty of room on the back for those who can't maintain a harder rotation and I think we should be crunching the rotation down to about four or five riders at times when the hammer is down. Happy to take on the flack - bring it on - but remember... it's SUPPOSED to hurt!

Apart from all the lights this morning, they were perfect conditions for the sprint today when riding one gear of 53/16. Block headwind is always good in that gear. Brad (brother-in-law) must have been a little tired too win today as he appeared to be standing still as I passed him with about twenty metres to go. I actually thought he must have dropped a chain, or got a flat, or.... something. Maybe try one of these...


Lovely email from Vlad at Cycleworks today... I've cracked another MTB frame. Just hoping everything will be ready to go again by Sunday week for the fourth round of Chase the Sun. Maybe I really should put more effort into losing that weight!

Yesterday - 2.75hrs SS MTB
Today - 70k NRB and Hurt-box - 30k torture home
102kg - 5kg too heavy